Pictorial warnings on tobacco stuff are useless!

Pictorial warnings on tobacco stuff are useless!

The Union Health Ministry on Monday admitted that the present pictorial warnings on tobacco products have not been effective as people did not understand their message of caution.

The ministry is also in consultation with the Agriculture Ministry to find a way out in persuading tobacco farmers to move to another crop in its bid to contain tobacco use, Keshav Desiraju, Additional Secretary in Union Health Ministry, told media persons in New Delhi.

A pilot study is underway in Andhra Pradesh in this regard, he said.

"We are working on improving pictorial warnings. People did not understand that the picture of 'scorpion' was meant to show that consuming tobacco is dangerous. Similar was the case in the image of X-Ray."

"In some cases, we got the feedback that the image was not clear. Globally, evidence shows that pictorial warnings work and act as a deterrent," he said.

Pictorial warnings on tobacco stuff are useless!

Pakistan has one of the most effective pictorial warnings and that the government has to work on improving the pictorial warning, Desiraju said during the National Consultation on Smokeless Tobacco Conference.

"Use of smokeless tobacco is one thing which is more prevalent in India. Now it is spreading to other countries and we have found that the countries, which have shown such a trend has Indian population," he said.

Noting that most of the anti-tobacco campaign is focussed on the issue of smoking, Desiraju said there was a need for building awareness on use of smokeless tobacco also.